A creamy, sweet, delicious summer mess.
Ingredients
What You'll Need
Meringues
- 3 large egg whites ( room temperature)
- 200g caster sugar
- few drops red food colour (optional)
- Or good quality shop bought mini meringues
Filling
- 250mls cream
- 250mls Irish Vanilla Greek yogurt
- I vanilla pod / 1 tsp vanilla extract ( the good stuff )
- 500g berries ( a combo of strawberries and raspberries work great)
- Squeeze lemon juice
Equipment
If Making Meringues
- baking tray
- greaseproof paper
- oven gloves
- weighing scales
- electric whisk
- mixing bowl
- piping bag
- fork
Method
How to Do It
Makin' Meringues
- Preheat the oven to 120°C/gas mark 1/2
- In a bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar, mixing continuously until combined
- Spread the meringue mix onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and place into the oven for 2 hours.
- Switch off the oven and leave the meringue inside until it has cooled completely
Smush Time
- Using a fork, smush up the berries to create some juice. Leave large chunks, little pieces and juice all combined.
- Squeeze over some lemon juice and allow to macerate while the meringues cook ( or 20 mins ) This is the secret - the citric acid from the lemons intensifies the sweetness of the strawberries. Delish!
- Whisk the cream and fold in the yoghurt and the vanilla.
- In a large bowl, combine the meringues, creamy mixture and berries altogether.
- Spoon into glasses/bowls
- Chill in fridge for 30mins ( if you can wait - if not just dive straight in )
- Garnish with one or two mini meringues on top.
Berry Smush better known as Eton Mess to most is a favourite among all the grandchildren in the Larkin family. Their Gran is responsible for making huge bowls of the deliciousness every time we have a garden party during the summer.
It is a fail-safe dessert with little prep and as my Isabella says " Mom I do love Gran’s Berry Smush".
This is my kinda dessert because on these rare and beautiful sunny days who needs to be in a kitchen being perfect. Defo not me!
This is a slightly healthier version as it is made with delicious Irish Greek yoghurt and cream instead of just all cream and I totally cheated and bought the little mini meringues.
They are super easy to make and kids love piping them and sure it doesn’t matter a hoot what they look like ‘cos they are being turned into smush anyway !!
Enjoy the sunshine this weekend,
With fun & deliciousness,
Aisling
